Thursday, July 28, 2016

Ah, Frostgrave campaign day has finally arrived. Six of our group was able to attend plus one new member. So seven intrepid adventurers would be setting forth into the frozen town in search of fame and fortune. We would be playing the Genie scenario (with the potential for three Genies) plus adding in a homebrew scenario involving random hot spring geyser eruptions. As a level balancing thing, the higher your level, the more likely you could trigger a geyser and suffer a +5 scalding water attack.

My warband will enter at the bottom left

A view of the table center

A view of the far end of the table

Knabe's Story

As I surveyed the ruins, I could feel my ole bones longing for the warmth of the fireplace and the taste of heated honey mead. But today, the surrounding area seemed to be charged with energy. I hoped it would be a successful foray into the ancient city.

I had paid good gold for rumors of magic lamps once existing in this part of the city. The rumors mentioned some unknown threat as well.

My warband ready to enter the ruins

I managed to summon up an undead creature. My young apprentice failed to summon a snow leopard companion for this trip, so our band would be one short today. Luckily, we had both been successful with brewing some potions; invisibility and teleportation which I handed out to Fritz and Faenger. I took an elixir of chameleon from the vault and gave a potion of healing to Vogel - just in case. I attempted a new magic spell to locate nearby treasure items but both myself and Vogel completely failed in our attempts. More training in this area is definitely a must.

As I entered the ruins, I detected my old adversary Lingzhu moving off to my left. I also noticed his crossbowmen moving to good firing positions - in my direction.

Lingzhu to my left

I also notice Kodak's crew moving around to my front. Another worthy opponent. This should prove to be an interesting day as we all jockeyed for an advantage.

Kodak's warband to my front

I decided to make thing interesting right from the start. I cast Leap on Uhlmann (Owl Master) and propelled him to the top of a nearby tower to check it for loot. His owl followed him up there as well. Vogel successfully cast Fog to protect our movement to the front.

I directed my undead creature to head towards some loot and return it to base - I then left him on his own as other things occupied my time. I found the way to my left completely covered by crossbowmen and marksmen from both the previous detected warbands. This was quickly proved the hard way when Donan (treasure hunter) leaned out for a peek and was shot dead right through the eye for his troubles by Kodak's crossbowman. That new hire didn't last long.

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Slowly moving forward

I drank my Elixir of the Chameleon and stepped out in the open. I could hear cries of frustration ring out as the shooters knew I was there but couldn't draw a bead on me to shoot. I like this potion!
Kodak's apprentice leans around the fog and tries to cast a spell on Vogel. He responds with a Bone Dart but the dart harmless ricochets away. My fox darts left, then right, then starts nipping at Kodak's apprentice's shins. That'll prevent her from casting spells for a while. Uhlmann sends his owl over to an adjacent tower where he discovers Kodak himself searching for some loot. I would have thought rooting for treasure was something the hired hands did but there's no discerning some people's tastes. At least the owl will keep him busy for a while.

Kodak's man looking in the geyser crater

One of Kodak's men darts out of the fog wall and roots around in the bottom of a small crater. Suddenly in a puff of smoke, a Genie appears, attacks, and easily takes down Kodak's man.

A genie appears

I looked around for Fritz to direct him to engage the Genie but he had disappeared. (For some reason, he drank a Potion of Invisibility and was running through the kill zone towards a distance piece of treasure - I 'm still not sure why I did that) A geyser erupted with boiling water and I heard a slight yell; that must have been Fritz. A short time later, Faenger drinks a Potion of Teleportation potion and appears way on the other side of the town (Back at the tavern he says he thought saw a treasure item - it turned out to be a rock).

I saw a member of Lingzhu's warband out in the open so I threw a Bone Dart his way, causing minor injuries. Vogel realized he did not have any spells that could hurt the Genie. So he cast Push on him and successfully flung him through the fog a good distance (14 inches).

I attempt to cast another Bone Dart at Lingzhu's thug but fail. Vogel has the same luck as he fails to Push Kodak's annoying archer off a nearby ledge. Then things turned in my favor. Bobo (bear) burst through the fog and knocked Kodak's apprentice out of the fight with one swipe of his mighty paws.
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Kodak's apprentice takes a nap

The fox had done well keeping the apprentice engaged. Vogel spots a snow gorilla in the mist and directs the fox to keep it busy. Vogel had noticed the gorilla heading towards our undead treasure hauler. So the fox engaged and managed to force the gorilla back while the zombie makes good his escape with a large chest.
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The little fox wins his fight with the snow gorilla and steps back

I once again fail to cast Bone Dart at one of Lingzhu's minions. Vogel successfully hit the same guy by does minor damage. My new thief takes a crossbow bolt to the chest and drops like a rock. Kruger manages to take down Kodak's archer. And the brave fox tries to rejoin the group only to get boiled by a spout of boiling water.

Then the fateful moment arrives - not for me and my warband. I spy Lingzhu attempting to leave the ruins. With extreme focus from my Gloves of Casting, I manage to cast Bone Dart at him. The successful spell hits him hard and he drops to the snow covered ground. Unfortunately, I later heard that he succumbed to his wounds as did his apprentice. A worthy adversary has passed away.

With that last act, my warband and I headed back to the warmth and comfort of our tavern base. My two new hires lay crumpled in the snow, both victims of crossbow bolts. I need to remember to cast more fog to cover our movements. Kruger scooped up the fox as Vogel rooted around in the steam pit. The boy found the Genie's lamp; I'm sure that will sell for a good amount of coinage.

My summoned undead minion lumbered into base dragging a large box that turned out to be filled with 425 gold coins. This marks the third time that one of these creatures has made it back some kind of loot. They may be hideous to look at, and smell worst then a full night soil pot, but they do mindlessly obey orders.

The rest of the treasure items include: three scrolls (Leap, Fools Gold, Reveal Death); two potions (Elixir of Chameleon, Fairy Dust); 505 gold coins; and the Genie lamp worth 300 gold coins. Not bad for a days work, even with the two lost warband members.

End of game group photo

With my new found wealth, I may have to browse through the market place and see what goodies may be on sale. Maybe some new robes or a couple pieces of jewelry or a grimoire or a......decisions, decisions..... Of course, I also have two vacancies to fill as well.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Well another Historicon has come and gone. I hosted four games and played in two. The drive down from Aberdeen, MD was pleasant without any real traffic problems. I arrived around 1130 and the parking lot looked to be mostly full.

I made a pass through the main gaming hall and took a few pictures before heading to the dealer's hall and stimulating the gaming economy. There were some great games in progress.

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Another great looking game

A good looking Bolt Action board

After the dealer's hall, I headed to the HAWKs room to set-up the rubbled city table. We would run seven games on this table throughout the convention with five different game masters.

The HAWKs rubbled city table

Tanker's Challenge aka World of Tanks - Tabletop Edition

My first game was at 7 pm Thursday evening - Tankers Challenge using Battleground WWII. I had 12 players broken out into four teams. Everyone started with an early war tank. As they got destroyed, they got an upgrade to something better.

Panzer 38t takes a hit.

British Cruiser and Italian M13/40 slug it out at point blank range.

Churchill VII rolls through the wreck cluttered street

Panzer III attacks Italian 13/40 from the rear

British Cruiser gets a flank shot on an Italian Semovente

Sherman engaging a STuGIIIb

More tank action

An more.....

My next game was Friday morning at 9 am: Trouble in the Rubble. Another Battleground WWII game pitting elements of the 29th Inf Div trying to take a portion of St Lo from elements of the 352d Inf Div.

A panzerschreck pops up in ambush...but misses the M8 Armored Car.

US recon teams fan out in the rubble hunting the Germans.

A view of one rubble filled street

An "88" covers the main street and has a Sherman in it's sights

Next I played a game of Look Kaiser, No Charts; the 1914 Battle of Maissin. I played the German right flank. My mission was to protect the town of Maissin and slow the German advance. It was a great game with lots of friendly smack talk on both sides.﻿

Next I played a game of Look Kaiser, No Charts

German artillery on a ridge

A view of the artillery position from an observation balloon

A view of the town from an observation balloon

After thrashing the French, it was time to set-up my evening scenario, River Crossing at Arnaville; another Battleground WWII game.

US troops have crossed the river; engineers are working on a pontoon bridge

A view of the US lines

German view

German troops advance to reduce the bridgehead

US smokescreen drifts across to cover the bridging site

The evening game went well - for the Germans. They managed to delay the bridging operation long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

I managed to get a couple pictures of some other game board set-ups.

Almost looks real

Nice little town

Another view

A PAK-40 on the same table

A Force on Force game being run on the Rubbled City table: Chechnya War scenario.

The Battle of Grozny

Russian tanks cautiously move forward

Russian tanker's vi

The final game I hosted was a Muskets and Tomahawks scenario. The French and their allies were raiding a British outpost.

The French close in on the British outpost

A unit of Rangers fall to a party of Hurons

Sunday morning I managed to get into a tabletop version of the Source of the Nile. The game was fun but by then I was ready to go eat lunch and head back north home. So I meet several of the HAWKs at Wegmans for lunch. The drive back home was slower but the traffic never stopped moving.

Had a great time as usual. Didn't take as many pictures as I should have, and didn't record the names of the games I did capture digitally. Will have to do better next time.